The Nilson Report interviews MYPINPAD’s CEO and Chairman Phil King

MYPINPAD Achieves PCI SSC SPoC Approval

Payment card acceptance locations worldwide could grow by 100 million or more now that the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has created standards for entering personal identification numbers (PINs) on off-the-shelf (SPoC) mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The buy-in is low for small and midsized businesses that don’t currently accept card payments. They will incur only a $21 to $25 expense to buy a secure card reader (dongle) to link via Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet.

Software vendors that provide cloud-based platforms to secure the front end and back end of a card payment initiated via off-the-shelf mobile devices include MyPINpad, the pioneer in the field. It recently received PCI SSC certification for its iOS software-based PIN entry on a commercial off-the-shelf device.

By the end of this quarter, it expects to receive SPoC certification for Android devices and soon after that certification to handle contactless payments from off-the-shelf (CPoC) devices. This does away with the need for merchants to buy a dongle. That CPoC certification will cover only Android devices. Currently, Apple does not allow access to its devices for NFC payments other than via Apple Pay.

The company’s mPOS technology handles a PIN via a standard PIN pad, not a scrambled one used by competitors. It has also solved the problem of presenting a PIN pad on the flat screen of a phone or tablet so that it is usable to visually impaired cardholders.

MyPINpad’s technology is integrated into third-party applications and can be delivered on a software-as-a-service basis.